Norwell officials slam studies that say High Street 40B project won't add traffic

NORWELL – Traffic continues to be a point of concern for town officials and neighbors when it comes to a 56-unit housing project proposed for High Street. 

Members of the Norwell Zoning Board of Appeals and the public questioned the national data used to calculate how much traffic a development will create during a recent meeting on the proposed development.

The 10-building Chapter 40B project on High Street, which would have 14 affordable units, is being proposed by Peter Crabtree, of Concord, with the Northland Residential Corp.

Chapter 40B projects allow developers to bypass local zoning regulations to build denser projects. Towns can block the projects if 10 percent of their housing stock is considered affordable. Only 4.9 percent of Norwell's housing is deemed affordable. 

The development would have two entrances and exits on High Street, one right before the intersection with Washington Street and another closer to the intersection with Oak Street. 

More:Engineer: Proposed apartment complex in Norwell would have 'relatively little' traffic impact

Traffic engineer Scott Thornton, with Vanasse & Associates Inc., said the peak number of cars leaving the complex in the morning would be 21, with an estimated six cars entering. In the evening, the estimated peak traffic is 22 cars entering and 13 exiting, he said.

"This is for the peak 60-minute time period, whenever that occurs," Thornton said. "Maybe it's 7:30 to 8:30. More people will leave during one specific time, but that doesn't mean everybody leaves at the same exact time. Some people leave early and come back early."

The number of vehicles leaving the complex would likely be similar, 20 per hour, in the times adjacent to the peak, he said.

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Board member Ralph Rivkind, who is not voting on the project, said it "seemed incredible" that the project would have 122 parking spaces but only 21 cars leaving during the peak in the morning.

Thornton said looking at the number of trips as an absolute wasn't right, and the peer reviewer the town hired agreed with his numbers. Traffic studies are developed based on peak hours, but the hours before and after the peak could easily have almost the same amount of traffic.

More:Developer proposes 56-unit 40B project on High Street in Norwell

With a peak of 21 cars leaving the complex between 7 and 8 a.m., an estimated 81 cars would leave the complex between between 6 and 10 a.m.

During the last meeting in August, the town's traffic consultant, John Morgan, told the board the impact on traffic would be "relatively minor."

More:Engineer: Proposed apartment complex in Norwell would have 'relatively little' traffic impact

"Once all that's taken into account, the impact on the intersections isn't that great," Morgan said at the August meeting.

Crabtree said the current design allows for two parking spaces per unit at a minimum, but he does not expect all the parking spaces to be used. If each unit had two cars and two drivers, that would be 112 cars.

More:Watch the zoning board meeting

Of the 56 units, 28 would have one bedroom, 22 would have two bedrooms and six would have three bedrooms.

Morgan wrote in his peer review that only 68 parking spaces would be needed per national guidelines, and the town's bylaws only require 84 parking spaces.

Board member William Lazzaro said he was "scratching his head" at the peer-reviewed traffic estimates.

"I understand it's not intuitive, but at the same time, it is," Thornton said. "All the people don't leave at the same time every day."

Thornton said the peak 21 cars per hour would have a 0.8 percent impact on the traffic volume on High Street.

Chairwoman Lois Barbour said she doesn't necessarily believe the validity of the two traffic surveys Thornton conducted looking at traffic in the morning and night at four intersections around the proposed development. The first was in October 2020 and the second was in March 2021. She wanted to know if school was remote or in person when the studies were conducted, or if school was out on the Friday when the study took place.

"I'd like to you make an attempt to legitimize the study because when I look at the data, well, I want you to convince me it's legitimate data," she said.

Board member Stephen Lynch said he wanted to "button up" the traffic studies because it seemed like the data was skewed by pandemic behaviors. 

The town's peer consultant previously said, and wrote in a report, that he found no such issues with Thornton's data.

Multiple residents asked Thornton to conduct one more traffic study because the peak hours aren't in the morning or at night, they're between noon and 2 p.m.

Kim Zayotti, who lives on High Street, said she works at home and has to close her windows because she can hear all the car radios.

"From 12 to 2, Route 53 is a parking lot," she said.

Barbour also questioned Crabtree over the assertion in his application that residents 55 and older in Norwell are looking to move from single-family homes to something else.

While Crabtree said his assertions came straight out of the town's own housing production plan, Barbour said there should be work done because maybe younger people want to live there and dismissed the housing plan, claiming it is 10 years old.

The housing plan was was approved in December of 2019.

"What housing have you created since that time?" Crabtree said. "None. The need's still there, it's unfulfilled."

The board will next meet to discuss the project Sept. 28.

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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@patriotledger.com.